Maybe my expectations were too high. I had heard from
several friends that this was a very funny movie. But with the exception
of the last 20 minutes, I didn't find Galaxy Quest very funny at all.
I already know that I am a difficult audience for comedies. I am the only
person, apparently, who didn't like There's
Something About Mary. I thought it was the most unfunny movie
I've ever seen. The only slightly funny bit in the whole movie was that
Cameron Diaz's ex-boyfirend was Brett Favre. Rushmore
is my idea of a funny movie. But I digress. Galaxy Quest is a really
funny idea for a movie. It is a thinly veiled satire of the Star
Trek phenomenon. In this movie, the Galaxy Quest crew has been
left with nothing to do except for attending conventions and signing autographs
after their series has been cancelled. A group of real aliens shows
up, having watched all the episodes of the Galaxy Quest TV show, thinking
that the actors are real hero astronauts. Unfortunately, this movie
takes a long time to get going and it only after the crew has been taken
into outer space by the aliens and is in a real battle for their lives
that Galaxy Quest becomes funny and entertaining. This film has a
nice cast including Tim Allen as the Captain, Sigourney Weaver as a ditzy
blonde crew member with nice cleavage, and Alan Rickman as the "Spock"
character. They are all good although Weaver's and Rickman's acting
skills are sorely wasted here. Tony Shaloub is particularly good
as the "Scotty" character in the crew. The good aliens are also well
done although they come off as more heart-warming than funny. Despite
the urging of my friend Robin who accompanied me to this film and was seeing
it for the second time, I can't give Galaxy Quest anything close to 5 bottles.
It may be just me but I don't find Tim Allen walking around with a hangover
to be particularly funny. And this is the kind of "humor" that fills the
first half of this movie. Things really take off when it starts making
use the very funny premiss for this movie, that the crew gets to actually
live an episode of Galaxy Quest. The good aliens, who have kidnapped
them, have built an exact working replica of the TV spaceship. And
the climax of the movie is great as some geeky trekkies help the crew defeat
the bad aliens. I enjoyed a lot of the bits that made fun of
Star Trek such as having
an actor in a bit part who you know is just there to get killed. But I never
laughed out loud. The rest of the audience, including lots of kids
and Robin, laughed a lot. So I am not typical. But I can't give it
5 bottles. Sorry, Robin.